Video Reviews

1. Explain why you selected each of the FOUR videos you choose from the selection listed above.
2. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.
3. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?
4. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?

1) The first video I selected was The Drawings of Michelangelo. This is because I like Michelangelo's work...and his last name sounds like mine!
The second video I chose was  Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance because he is a well known artist. I wanted to see more of his works through a video rather than just reading the same redundant information on him.
The third video I chose was  Albrecht Dürer: Image of a Master. His last name seems German and I don't recall ever learning about him so I was interested in learning about someone new.
The fourth and last video I chose to watch was The Night Watch (Rembrandt) because I was hoping it would kind of be about darker art just from the name of the video.

2) Michelangelo video: Michealangelo taught himself how to sculpt. When examining Michealangelo's artwork, his drawings emphasise on the solar plexus of human figures. in 1516 the Pope asked Michealangelo to design the Medici family church of San Lorenzo. Michealangelo was passionate about the male body and felt that Christian faith were driving forces of his work. Another very interesting thing to learn was that his crucifixion drawings were Michealangelo's way of contemplating his own death and a way for him to deal with these feelings.
da Vinci video: Leonardo da Vinci was known as a true Renaissance man. He was a sculptor, painter, architect, engineer, and a student of anotmoy, physiology, aeronautics, and other disciplines. He mastered proportion of man and animals and draws from life. He studied the machines from his day to help imporove them. In the court of Milan he coordinates the entertainment and becomes the courth painter. He also developed grand urban projects for the city of Milan. da Vinci became appointed chief engineer in the service of Cesare Borgia. When he returns to Florence he shows off his painting of the Mona Lisa! Before he died he became the first painter, engineer, and architect to the King.
Durer video: Albrecht introudces Germany to the Gothic and Italian Renaissance art. He is considered as a landscape artist. He mass prints his work.He first made cuts on wood then starts to make marks on copper.
Rembrandt video: The Night Watch is the name of the painting that became an object of pilgrimage for the Dutch as well as visitors. The painting has been stabbed with a knife, drenched with water...and even with acid!!! This painting is filled with history, action, and movement. There is also a use of light.

3) The videos relate to the text. We have brushed over in the text about Michealangelo, and da Vinci. It is not like the videos are completely off topic to what we are learning, they are just going more in depth than what is in the text. We learned what the current art era was and we learned the pieces of art that fall in that era according to the text.

4) There was definitely more facts about Michealangelo and da Vinci in the videos than what I have read in the text. In the text you just read their most famous pieces of art and a small example of how it fit the era of art. Also I am not sure if I brushed over reading about the other 2 artists in the text but I thoroughly enjoyed learning about The Night Watch. It is so surprising that a painting can stir up that much controversy where people actually try to destroy the painting.